Fern Hill Primary School . . . Inspiration Collaboration Empathy Excellence

Thames Young Mariners – Year 4 Sleepover July 5th- July 6th

Thames Young Mariners – Who they are Established over 50 years Located in Ham, near Richmond 25 acre site including a 10 acre lake Recognised by the Royal Yachting Association, British Canoe Union, AALA and AHOEC “Underpinning all of our work is our focus on learning outcomes, which highlights the key areas of skill, knowledge, experience and personal development which we target through our outcome driven programmes.”

What will we be doing? Kayaking Challenge course Raft building Dock Jump Team building

Raft Building A great activity for teamwork combined with watersports fun. In order to challenge the group before they get out on the water, a range of items are provided for them to build a raft (with various design options possible). As with a number of our outdoor activities, they can be adapted according to the weather conditions. If the weather is poor, we can help to ensure the raft is more stable so that the children stay warm and dry (unless the children really want to get wet!).

Canoeing and Kayaking Thames Young Mariners use very sheltered, shallow water but also have access to the River Thames for those wishing to be a little more adventurous. There is a wide variety of kayaks and canoes to suit all abilities. They have qualified instructors on the water taking charge of the group and giving individual coaching tips throughout. The children will find the sessions challenging and fun; they learn and develop paddling techniques, as well as teamwork and communication skills, in a combination of instruction and games, both on land and afloat.

Team Tasks Apply collective knowledge, inventiveness, communication and common sense to achieve success as a team.   In a team of up to ten, an instructor will challenge the group to succeed at a series of problems - mental or physical (sometimes both). The instructor can adjust the game to make it more or less challenging for the group. An ideal exercise for developing that collaboration value we encourage at school.

Where will we be staying? The children are sleeping in tepees. The tepees hold between 8 and 12 children. The children will be sleeping in single sex tepees – we will group the children. The staff tents are in the middle of the sleeping area.

What about food? Meals are freshly cooked on site and served in the main hall by the SOLD Catering Team. Breakfast is served at 08:00 - sausage, egg, bacon, beans, hash browns, toast, croissants, yoghurts, fruit, cereal and toast. Packed Lunch between 12:30pm and 13:30pm – filled baguette, home made cookie /cake, fruit, crisps and squash Dinner is served at 17:30pm

The timetable – for example Group A 30 yp Group B 30 yp Group C 30 yp Day 1 0930 – 1230 hrs Kayak Raft build Challenge course/ team tasks 1330 – 1630hrs Raft build Challenge course/ team tasks Kayak evening Fern Hill staff led activities Day 2 0930 – 1230 hrs Challenge course/ team tasks Kayak Raft build

Day 1 After saying their goodbyes and storing their bags, the children will be grouped and the activities will begin, stopping around 12:30pm for lunch and then resuming at 1:30pm. The activities on the first day will finish around 4:30pm. After getting cleaned up, the children will have their dinner, provided by Thames Young Mariners. From dinner, until approx. 8:00pm the children will play a range of games and take part in activities led by school staff. This is also an opportunity for the children to have any quiet time, if they wish! Bedtime will begin, with hot chocolate and a chat around a camp fire before the children will be encouraged to get ready for bed (wash, teeth and handing in all snacks!) Lights will be out around 9pm.

Day 2 The children will be woken up at about 7:30am. We will have breakfast altogether and get ready for the day of activities. The first activity will start at 9:30am. We will stop and have lunch at 12:30pm. This will be provided by Thames Young Mariners. The children will then make sure that they have gathered all of their belongings together, and after a final check of the tents, they can be collected at 1:30pm.

How will the children be grouped? We will group the children for both the activities, and the tents. We would like to mix the whole cohort. There will be 3 groups of 30 for the actvities, and groups according to the tent size for sleeping.

Other information The teachers will decide on groupings, both for the tasks and for the sleeping arrangements. These will be communicated to the children nearer the time, or on the day of arrival. Please ensure you let your teacher know if there is ANYTHING you think they should know in advance of the sleepover. There will be Fern Hill staff members on site at ALL times, with additional staff members sleeping over in tents adjacent to the children. Thames Young Mariners staff are also on site at all times. Please take your child to Thames Young Mariners at 09:15 on Wednesday July 5th, and collect at 1:30pm on Thursday July 6th. A suggested clothing list has already been sent home. Please make sure it is ALL named – there should be nothing left unclaimed when we leave. There are a number of water based activities so please make sure your child has enough changes of clothes.

Any questions?